Happily Ever After
by camelotgirl1
Summary: "Does everyone live happily ever after?" One-shot alternate ending for the series finale! It may not soften the sting of the finale, but may offer some comfort. Hopefully.


**A/N: Hi everyone! So this is a quick one shot I wrote as an alternate ending to Merlin's finale. Please do not read it if you haven't seen the finale yet, I would hate to spoil it for you. I don't know if this will soften the sting of the finale, but hopefully it won't make you sadder (bites nails nervously). It's somewhat happy. I hope you like it! Tell me what you think or if you like the original ending better, or if you have a better one of your own. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Merlin but I am very grateful to those who do. They gave us a fantastic show, didn't they?**

Happily Ever After

_"The King is dead. Long Live the Queen!" Sir Leon shouted across the hall, and was answered with resounding "LONG LIVE THE QUEEN"s from all sides. The shouting continued as Queen Guinevere looked on sadly, but determined, at the new kingdom she would continue to build._

The boy closed the book and laid it on the bedside table, next to the little girl.

"Oh no," the little girl said, "Poor Gwen! How will she go on without Arthur?"

"I expect she will just go on, like we all must." The boy said. "So what did you think?"

The little girl's parents had hired the boy to look after their child whenever they were away, which was most all the time, so he had become an almost permanent figure in this house for many years. One day, a few years ago, he had shown the girl this book he had brought, saying it was a story his parents used to read to him before he went to bed, and now he wanted to read it to the little girl. They had been reading it for years, it was quite a long book, and now they had finally completed it. He was interested in hearing her reactions to the ending after the story had been a part of their lives for so long.

The little girl sat there pondering in a way that made her look much older than her eight years, until she finally opened her mouth and said, "I'm sad. I mean, Arthur died, Gwaine died, Gwen lost her husband and Merlin lost his destiny. But at the same time, I feel happy that Arthur now knows about Merlin. And I don't think it was Merlin's fault that Arthur died, no matter how much he blames himself."

"You don't think it was his fault? Why?" asked the boy.

"No, I believe it was destiny and there was nothing Merlin could do about it. He should stop crying at that stupid lake and be happy that he met Arthur instead of sad that he died."

The boy looked at her for a second, surprised at her words. "You certainly are a very smart little girl, do you know that?"

"Yes!" she said, smiling and giggling.

"Alright, you need to get to bed, little miss!" the boy said, smiling along with her.

"That was a very good story." the little girl said, as he tucked her into bed.

"Oh yeah?"

"Yeah. I loved Arthur and Merlin. They were so funny! Especially that time when Merlin was gone for a few days and when he came back Arthur pretended to get annoyed to make Merlin mad and it worked and Merlin called Arthur a "prat" and other funny and weird names!"

"And why was that part so funny?"

The little girl laughed. "Because Arthur wasn't _actually _mad but it annoyed Merlin when he acted like he didn't care and he made him muck out the stables and stuff, which is really disgusting. And Merlin fell for it."

"Yes, I suppose that is pretty funny."

"Arthur really was happy to see Merlin though, right?"

"Of course he was happy to see him. He always was."

"I just sometimes wish Merlin could know that." The little girl said, now suddenly sad.

"Oh, I think he knows." The boy said as he stood up and began to walk out of the room.

"One more thing!" the little girl said as the boy neared the doorway of her bedroom, about to leave.

"What is it?" he asked as he stopped walking.

"What happened to them?" the little girl asked. "Does Arthur ever come back? Does everyone live happily ever after?"

"I don't know." he said and completed his walk to the doorway, passing the window that showed the now weather beaten rock on top of the Lake of Avalon. However at the last second, he turned around to face the little girl.

"But I can't wait to find out." Merlin finished, and turned off the lights.

**A/N: Please leave a review to tell me what you thought! Thank you!**


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